Parent carers coming together and making a difference

2 mins read

Thursday 7 March 2024

Tags: parent carer forums, parent participation

Last week, around 200 members of parent carer forums across England gathered together for the joint Contact and National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) conference.

As well as listening to a key-note speech from Children, Families and Wellbeing minister, David Johnston MP, parent carers attending the conference heard examples of the amazing and diverse things parent carer forums have been doing, working with their local communities, councils and health partners.

During February – or Parent Participation Matters month as we have renamed it – we have shared over 25 wonderful examples of the work parent carer forums (PCFs) across England are doing to deliver improved outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).   

This includes parent carers in Peterborough who reached out to different communities to create a strong representative parent carer forum and parent carers in Harrow who produced a SEND jargon buster. Or Swindon PCF, who worked with local charities and parent support groups to create a film to help parent carers have better conversations with practitioners and Shropshire parent carers who worked with partners to ensure families had the information and support they needed when young people prepare for adulthood.

All the success stories we shared with you throughout February are a testament to the hard work of carer forums and their membership of just under 128,000, who increasingly operate in a very challenging climate.

Want to find out more about Parent Carer Forums in England?

Watch parent carer Paul from SENDS 4 Dad talk to Nausheen and Jacqui from Swindon SEND Families Voice about the role of a parent carer forum and why they got involved.

Find out how to join your local parent carer forum

Read more parent carer forum successes.

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